Fostering a sense of belonging and a personal connection is seen as fundamental by many educational researchers, regardless of the learning environment. Online learning certainly provides flexible learning opportunities but comes with notable issues. For online learners, nurturing a sense of belonging may present a way of improving their experiences and attainment, as well as reducing attrition rates. Research specifically exploring sense of belonging and online learning is limited. This article addresses that gap and reports on a small-scale exploratory study using qualitative data-collection and analysis methods to investigate the importance, or not, of sense of belonging for postgraduates’ online education by exploring the origins and nature of their lived experience of online learning and their sense of belonging therein. Our initial findings emphasise its importance for them as online learners and have identified three significant themes: interaction/engagement, the culture of the learning, and support. These early findings highlight the importance of these three themes in promoting a sense of belonging and in ensuring that there are opportunities for meaningful group and peer interactions; they will be of interest to all engaged in online education.
Recent changes in nurse education have led to a desire in nurse educators to promote meaningful learning rather than rote learning of facts. A major metacognitive learning strategy that appears to promote this is concept mapping. However, many nurse educators appear to be unaware of this strategy's existence, or of the research evidence available that supports the claim of promoting meaningful learning. This paper sets out to address these issues. It explores the nature of a concept map, the research on concept mapping and meaningful learning and possible reasons why its use has not been noticeable in nurse education. By addressing these issues it is hoped that more nurse educators will attempt to use concept mapping in the promotion of meaningful learning.
Aims and objectives. To explore how young 'expert patients' living with Cystic Fibrosis and the healthcare professionals with whom they interact perceive partnership and negotiate care. Background. Modern healthcare policy encourages partnership, engagement and self-management of long-term conditions. This philosophy is congruent with the model adopted in the care of those with Cystic Fibrosis, where self-management, trust and mutual respect are perceived to be integral to the development of the ongoing patient/professional relationship. Self-management is associated with the term; 'expert patient'; an individual with a long-term condition whose knowledge and skills are valued and used in partnership with healthcare professionals. However, the term 'expert patient' is debated in the literature as are the motivation for its use and the assumptions implicit in the term. Design. A qualitative exploratory design informed by Interpretivism and Symbolic Interactionism was conducted. Methods. Thirty-four consultations were observed and 23 semi-structured interviews conducted between 10 patients, 2 carers and 12 healthcare professionals. Data were analysed thematically using the five stages of 'Framework' a matrixbased qualitative data analysis approach and were subject to peer review and respondent validation. The study received full ethical approval. Results. Three main themes emerged; experiences of partnership, attributes of the expert patient and constructions of illness. Sub-themes of the 'ceremonial order of the clinic', negotiation and trust in relationships and perceptions of the expert patient are presented. Conclusions. The model of consultation may be a barrier to person-centred care. Healthcare professionals show leniency in negotiations, but do not always trust patients' accounts. The term 'expert patient' is unpopular and remains contested. Relevance to clinical practice. Gaining insight into structures and processes that enable or inhibit partnership can lead to a collaborative approach to service redesign and a revision of the consultation model.
Personalisation, with its emphasis on learner choice and lifelong learning, challenges educators to provide an innovative, student-centric educational experience. New technologies have great potential to support personalisation; however, institutions must review their approaches to assessment and feedback and their strategies to learning and teaching as well as increasing opportunities for collaborative learning and extending their external partnerships. This is a significant agenda for any institution. In this chapter, through the authors’ four case studies drawn from different subject areas in a higher educational institution, they illustrate how ePortfolios when integrated into the curriculum and combined with reflection can support personalised learning. The authors’ also discuss the challenges of such an approach including lack of learner engagement with the reflective process, an increase in tutor time, restricted learner access to technology and the need for dynamic ePersonalisation. They offer suggestions for educators in addressing such issues in order to provide a truly personalised learning experience.
Movement therapy, as a body–mind intervention, aims to enable emotional and social changes in children and adults, based on the premise that physical and behavioural changes also facilitate psychological changes and that ultimately further integration is achieved which is the basis of one’s wellbeing. The existence of comorbid difficulties and cognitive delays in children with learning difficulties heighten the need to investigate whether movement therapy can indeed enable physical and emotional integration, as relevant literature suggests. This chapter reports on such an investigation involving children with mild learning difficulties in primary schools in Saudi Arabia. A randomized controlled trial was conducted with a sample of sixty (N = 60) primary school male pupils aged 6–9 years with mild learning difficulties. Although the sample was small, findings suggest that group movement therapy may be a useful intervention in enabling integration between observed emotional/social and physical/behavioural markers in children with mild learning difficulties.
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